Jeff McDonald: Pop says Manu will miss first month of regular season

For the first time, the Spurs have been able to quantify the cost of Manu Ginobili’s offseason ankle surgery.

The star guard has been ruled out for all of November, and could miss as many as 25 games to start the regular season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

“Manu will be out 20 to 25 games — until mid-December at the latest,” Popovich said Monday, the day before the Spurs open training camp.

As for the earliest Ginobili might suit up?

“It won’t be in November,” Popovich said.

Ginobili, 31, initially injured a ligament in his left ankle during the playoffs last season, and re-aggravated the malady while playing for Argentina in last month’s Olympic Games. He underwent arthroscopic surgery Sept. 3 to correct a posterior impingement in the ankle, and at the time gave a timetable of eight-to-12 weeks for recovery.

The optimistic end of that timetable would have had Ginobili ready in time to start the regular season. For now, it appears the Spurs will approach Ginobili’s return even more cautiously than that.

However long Ginobili is out, the loss is sure to have a noticeable effect on the Spurs. Ginobili averaged a team-high and career-best 19.5 points per game last season, en route to earning NBA Sixth Man of the Year honors.

Still, Ginobili arrived at Spurs headquarters Monday in high spirits. He joked to reporters that he now knows more about ankle surgery than he ever wanted to know.

“I feel good,” said Ginobili, who wore no brace or any other support on his repaired left ankle. “I’m not playing or doing anything to put it at risk. But walking around, it just feels great.”

Even Popovich was in a good mood Monday, despite the prospect of missing his leading scorer for perhaps the first quarter of the season. He called the timing of Ginobili’s injury and subsequent surgery a blessing in disguise.

“Had he not hurt it in the Olympics, he probably would have done it 15, 25, 35 games into the season,” Popovich said. “It could be a blessing that he’s gotten operated on. They’ve gone in there and cleaned things out. His ankle will be in better shape than it’s been in years, I would imagine.”

8 Responses

Hey adri! Ur idiot nor ur blind? who told u that manu is d best player among d spurs players? Common only tim Duncan is d best player among of them, he is d main offense and deffense in the team. look manu always guard single opponents thats d reasons why manu his numbers getting high,but tim always double team or triple,but still his numbers is still high and highest points, d rebounds,d shot blocking of d team, what can u ask for? And one more thing he is d core of the offense and deffense. Everytime they have a game duncan always double unlike manu. Now adri tell me if duncan can’t play this season and manu assuming he can play do u think manu can carry d load what duncan does in d team? Duncan is a complte package unlike manu…..

John M, Manu is not a Spur 24/7, just as you are not an employee of your company 24/7. (BTW, most full-time workers don’t lose their salaries if they are injured; workers comp, medical leaves, and social security provide a safety net for most American workers–although the current economic recession may change that…)

If Manu had injured himself playing for the Redeem Team, you would not make such a fuss….Give it a rest already and wish the guy well. He’ll be back. a

I cannot think of a reason for him not to play for his country but “What If…” he was out for the entire season? He just jeopardized the entire team. I know that this is not the case but how many games missed is too many?? He is a SPUR 24/7 and not just during the season. If I were out for 6 months, would my pay get interupted?? YES!! So should Manu’s. There should be some stipulation on all NBA contracts about missed games. This would give the player something to think about the next time He jumps on a motorcycle, Skydives and even plays in the Olympics.